Judging the California Writers Contest

Who were the judges and how did they select the winners? What were they looking for in the entries?    Rachel

Excellent question, Rachel.  The judges are all published writers with strengths in the fields they judged.  

To answer your next question, look to the right of this post.  See “Pages?”  Click on the specific category of your choosing.  For instance, under poetry, you’ll discover this:

 Be as specific as possible. Cut most abstract words from your poem;  words like love, friendship, death.

Replace them with concrete words. Every line should have one concrete word in it. (A tree, a spider, a glob of glue . . .)

Those are two hints for you as to what the judges look for when they read a poem. (There are more on the page at right.)  The poems that won were very specific. 

A good exercise would be to take a poem and use the suggestions at right and make it better.  Then submit it for publication . . and if you are still in middle school next year . . . submit it again to our contest.  And write MORE for us.  Remember, you can start writing now.  Next January you can check our new guidelines and send as many submissions as you like until NEXT April 1.

Short Stories   – I am one of the judges for two of the grades in short stories.  Here is something that is helpful from the page:

Be specific. (Here’s that word again!) Change general words like nice, pretty, ugly, or mean. These are telling words. Replace them with action verbs or dialogue.

      Example: Jenny was angry. The teacher gave her an F on her paper.

      Re-Write: Jenny’s eyes flashed. The F gleamed big and red on top of her science test. Jenny clenched her hands so the paper crumpled. “I’ll get that teacher in trouble,” she said under her breath.

Essays/Personal Narrative     There are several suggestions at the right, but here is one that I think is very helpful to you as you revise your piece, or write a new one:

 Introduce your experience with humor, action, or emotion; then take your reader along on a journey of self-discovery.  Concentrate on drama.  Write scenes. Drop your reader right into what happened! Let your reader experience the event, moment by moment!

And really, for ALL writing, that last line says it all!

The format is not the best for the dimensions of this space so apologies to those who are trying to read the school list.  

Last year I sent in the honorable list to the Contra Costa Times but they only printed the main winners due to space constraints.  This year we even have more honorables.  Good for you! 

As one of the sixth grade short story judges, I can say we were most amazed at the quality in this category.  Wow!  You kids know how to write!  Usually sixth grade students aren’t aware that stories have a distinct beginning, middle and an end.  But this stack of manuscripts were so compelling and well-written we nearly dropped off of our chairs as we read them! 

I hear other judges were also impressed with their manuscripts. 

As in other adult contests, we don’t give specific comments or critiques.  But if you come to one of our free workshops we will help you discover ways to make your good stories, poems and essays better and better. 

Congratulations honorables, winners and everyone who entered!  Keep writing! 

Liz

Honorable Mentions for Young Writers Contest

Honorable Mention Winners
Short Story
6th Grade
Traded	Mizarahy Aquino	Park Middle
Why Cheetahs Do Not Have Much Stamina	Anthony Chen	Gale Ranch
The Dare	Anthony Chen	Gale Ranch
The Last Shot	Amanda Chun	Pine Valley
Punishers	Mimi Evans	Gale Ranch
Cloaks, Wiis, and Coffee	Timothy Deng	Gale Ranch
The Thin Mirror Glass	Alexander Felix	Park Middle
Out of Time	Rubina Gala	Gale Ranch
Kelsey the Beginning	Christian Gianni	Martinez Jr. High
Damian’s Mark	Colleen M. Gill	Christ the King
Whispers in the Hallway	Clarina He	St. Perpetua
My Valley	Liya Khan	Gale Ranch
When Johnny Comes Marching	Joy Koonin	North Creek Academy
Blue Eyes	Elora McCutcheon	Park Middle
Delinquent	Jack Madigan	Christ the King
The Magical Coin	Lena Milton	Tehiyah Day
Picture Perfect	Zhill Olonan	Adams Middle
The Brass Hallways	Zhill Olonan	Adams Middle
Silence	Cassidy Amber Vaughn	Christ the King
Jamey’s Hope	Ariana VonEnrenkrook	Above & Beyond Academy
7th Grade
Ashes to Ashes	Mia Camille Miculob	Orinda Intermediate
Life After the Tragedy	Kaylee Fagan	Queen of All Saints
Americans Talk Quickly	Raia Cherednikov	Valley View
Reduce, Reuse & Recycle	Liam Kelly	Orinda
The Journey	Kevin Lu	Valley View
The Ocelot: A Mayan Story	Krithik Puthalath	Windemere Ranch
The Tree Prince	Ailan Evans	Joaquin Moraga
8th Grade
The Dreamer	Sarah Alford	Orinda
Waiting for the Cry	Sasha Batz-Stern	Tehiyah Day
Traitor	Anthony Chan	Windemere Ranch
Night Music	Stella Chua	Pine Valley
The Walking Shadow	Emmet Francis	Martinez Junior High
Longing for Life	Samantha Hebing	North Creek Academy
Zapatos Magicos	Juan Morena	Sequoia Middle
Shanghaied Sailor	Briana Pearsall	North Creek Academy
The Little Wolf	Ruth Spekner	Royal Oaks Academy
Personal Narrative/Essays
6th Grade
Untitled	Timothy Deng	Gale Ranch
Red Roses	Mia Cheverz	Iron Horse
Untitled	Victoria Lu	?
Mia	Lauren Burns	Pleasant Hill Middle
Riding Rapids	Rubina Gala	Gale Ranch
7th Grade
A Near Dunk in the Water	Mikayla Flicek	Gale Ranch
When I got Leland Out	Joey Mediati	Joaquin Moraga
The Lost Child	Sara Poston	Diablo View
The Day New York City Stood Still: My Story	Alexis Zwahlen	?
Stars in the Meadow	Waverly Runion	Diablo Vista
Rocha	Haley Morucci	Diablo View
Running the Mile	Sejal Jain	Gale Ranch
Eighth Grade
Guilty Pleasure	Mina Nayeri	Pine Valley
The Big Lebowski and Me	Arash Ehya	Windrush
Not the Way to Start	Jennifer Preciado	Riverview
Traditions Never Die, They Just Get Funnier	Dominic Aliotti	St. Agnes
The Ice Cream Fell Off the Cone	Emily Galloway	St. Agnes
A Night to Remember	Cassie Naughton	Dorris-Eaton
To Sing or Not to Sing	Makaela Williams	Martinez
A Hug of Care	William John Rhodes	William John Rhodes
Dazzle Me!	Madison Peters	St. Agnes
An Unbreakable Bond	Lucy Li	Iron Horse
Poetry
6th Grade
The Rainbows	Cece Alter	Tehiyah Day
Heaven	Kate Menefee	Christ the King
Inability	Chloe Chan	Pine Valley
Fall Composition	Chloe Chan	Pine Valley
Missing	Grace Howard	Walnut Creek
Picket Fence	Paul S. Cook	Valley View
Memories	Liya Khan	Gale Ranch
The Rock	Paul S. Cook	Valley View
7th Grade
Escaping Out the Back Door	Eleana Binder	Tehiyah Day
Nine Ways of Looking at a Mirror	Eleana Binder	Tehiyah Day
The Questioning Mind	Fatima Naveed	Walnut Creek
Hiroshima	Caitlin Kloess	Windrush
Jodileen’s Dream	Katherine Smith	Valley View
There’s No Place I’d Rather Be	Elia Chauqui-Schmida	Windrush
Trophies	Noah Baker	Tehiyah Day
Brat Claude	Jonathan Ng	Athenian
A New Day	Sejan Jain	Gale Ranch
The Mustard Massacre	Joey Mediati	Joaquin Moraga
8th Grade
Escape	Shania Reynolds	Foothill Middle
I Don’t Understand	Lexie Burton	Dorris-Eaton
I Don’t Understand Why	Curtis Haist	Dorris-Eaton
Tears Spill Over the Edge	Kiren Singh	Dorris-Eaton
Paul	Rosemary Cook	St. Catherine
Reality	Rosemary Cook	St. Catherine
Rain	Sydney Cook	?
The Cowboy	Claire Zasso	Stone Valley
The Shadow Messenger	Lexie Burton	Dorris-Eaton
The Land of the Snowgeese	Brianna Grace Contaxis-Tucker	Windrush
Before and After	Emily Radler	Dorris-Eaton

1, 2 and 3rd Place Winners of Young Writers Contest Here

http://mtdiablowriters.org/youngWriters_awardees.html

Street music motivates art

Let’s see. Number of goosebumps generated by listening to this fabulous montage of global street musicians performing “Stand By Me” multiplied by the artistic confluence generated by said bumps equals………. Inspiration!
Karen

More on the contest

Is it possible that the winners entries can be posted here?
Rachel

Ooh, I KNEW someone was going to ask that. () If you can wait a few days until I get caught up, I will. I need to hire an assistant. And the assistant will get double my pay.
P.S. You know we all are volunteers. But we love it!

Let Music Motivate Writing

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

Will winners hear on other entries?

If a person has won but they had submitted other entries that hadn’t won, would they still get a reply on their other entries? Fatima

Another good question. The winners will receive their honorable mentions at the banquet. (You won an honorable mention for “The Questioning Me.” Congrats!) Liz

Great Novel for Middle School Kids

Just finished a great read. The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney by Suzanne Harper is everything Publisher’s Weekly and Kliatt says it is. (Starred Reviews) Sparrow is a medium who meets a boy that’s rather unusal. He’s a “persistent, charming, infuriating ghost, who won’t let her be until she agrees to help him Move On.”

I couldn’t stop reading it. What fun!
So what have YOU been reading lately?

Contest Entries

Will you send a letter commenting or replying back on everybody else’s entry? When? Lauren

Good question! We have sent ONE letter to each person who entered. So if you entered FIVE pieces you will receive ONE letter. This is a contest, so we don’t provide a critique.

If you entered the contest and didn’t receive a letter, it means that you didn’t fill out a form or if you did we couldn’t read it!

I have a few names that do not have any addresses “attached” to them.

Honorable mentions were mailed to the schools or to the students. (I tried to send them to the schools when possible to save postage.)

Any teacher whose student won 1, 2, or 3 received a letter and an invitation to our banquet on May 9 along with the winning student.

Each student who entered our contest also received a list of what places are interested in publishing student poems, personal experience pieces and short stories. We encourage you to do this!

Students who don’t win our contest STILL can get published other places and win OTHER contests. And if you are in 6 or 7 grades this year, you can enter our contest again next year.

Tips:
1. If you didn’t win this year, and wonder why, remember that sometimes it’s just the competition and not your work.
2. Take your piece and ask your teacher or a writer what you could do to make it better. Or now that you’ve had some time away from it, maybe you know the answer to this question yourself. We adult writers ALWAYS let time pass by before we submit anything to publishers. Time is our friend. Time helps us see where we can make a story or poem have more sensory details, express more feeling, or make it more compelling to the reader.
3. My advice is to enter the contest AS MANY TIMES AS YOU CAN. Start writing NOW for next April. Really! We’ve discovered that the more you write, the better you get. And often the kids who have more entries have better odds of winning. In our past, we have had kids who have won MORE THAN ONE PRIZE.
4. If you have general writing questions – – go ahead and ask them here! Or attend our FREE writing workshops. Author Sarah Wilson (Susie) and I teach them through the Contra Costa Library system.
5. I’ll give more specific writing tips as time goes on. Stay tuned.